CowParade, a public art exhibit of painted fiberglass cows, is coming to the region next year, organizers announced yesterday.

CowParades have become an international phenomenon in the past decade since starting in Chicago in 1999. The whimsical exhibits have since been staged in New York, London and Paris, and auctions of the artwork have raised more than $25 million for charities worldwide.

Currently, CowParade Lala Tijuana 2008, is taking place across the border.

Plans for CowParade San Diego were unveiled at Liberty Station in Point Loma, where developer Corky McMillin Cos. has donated buildings to be used as an artist laboratory and warehouse for the project.

CowParade facts

200 life-sized fiberglass cows decorated by artists from San Diego and Tijuana.

Cows will be exhibited from Jan. 3 to March 31 at prominent public spaces throughout the region, such as trolley stations and Balboa Park.

Individuals and businesses can sponsor a cow for a minimum of $7,500. The top 50 cows from the exhibit will be auctioned later to benefit local charities.

CowParade San Diego expects to exhibit 200 life-size fiberglass cows in prominent public spaces – such as trolley stations, Balboa Park and the San Diego County Administration Center – from Jan. 3 to March 31.

A cattle call is being put out to artists in the San Diego and Tijuana region to work on the project. Individuals and businesses can sponsor a cow, and each artist whose design is selected will be provided with a blank cow and $1,000 upon completion.

The top 50 cows will be auctioned at the end of the exhibit to raise money for Rady Children's Hospital, the Zoological Society of San Diego and Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. The auction is expected to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We will do everything we can to milk CowParade for as many philanthropic dollars as we can,” Mayor Jerry Sanders quipped at a news conference announcing the project, where milk and cookies were served.

Not all public art fundraising projects have been successful. For example, a plan to install 40 individually decorated Garfield cat statues along Old Highway 101 fizzled last year because of a lack of sponsors.

But CowParade has received enthusiastic response from artists in town.

Perry Vasquez, an artist who teaches at Southwestern Community College, said he was drawn to participate in CowParade after finding out that some of his cultural heroes, such as director David Lynch and former Czech President Vaclav Havel have created CowParade artworks.

“I thought this is more than a frothy pop-art project. There have been some serious minds who have been involved. If they can do it, I can do it,” Vasquez said.

To create his design, Vasquez has been thinking about the cultural significance of cows in Greece, Scandinavia, India and other nations. He's also been dwelling on the contemporary issues tied to cows, such as slaughterhouse ethics.

Organizers say that cows are a good fit for a public art project because they are nonthreatening and recognizable. Their body shapes also happen to make a good canvas. The fiberglass forms used for the exhibit are modeled after Swiss dairy cows.